My friend Mary moved from Geneva almost 10 years ago and is living in England. She is a huge Taylor Swift fan, and had two tickets for the Vienna show scheduled for Aug. 9.

Mary and I hadn’t had an in-person visit in more than six years, so for the past year we saved up and planned for this concert-based reunion in Austria. In the weeks prior to the trip, political uproar in both of our countries increased our levels of stress and concern. The assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, riots reaching across England, political upheaval — it felt like rage and fear were closing in from every corner.

It did our souls good to spend three days hiking in the Salzkammergut (Austrian lake district). It’s much like the Finger Lakes, but with more mountains (not made of trash) and less traffic. While tour companies arrange walking tours with amazing food and expensive hotels, we were able to cobble together our own low-budget itinerary that was just as lovely. (It is said that man cannot live on bread alone, but add local cheeses to the equation........

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